Looting is the act of taking valuables during a time of war. This has been a recurring practice since the beginning of time and it still happens today. Looting is one of the horrible side effects of the constant political unrest that plagues the world today. With such chaos it is easy to overlook this growing problem. The following paragraphs will inform you of times throughout history when looting was most prevelant.

When American troops rolled into Bagdahd in April of 2003, many of Iraq's citizens took to the streets to celebrate the fall of the cruel dictatorship which had ruled the country for over 20 years. However, some had a different idea. Looters entered the National Museum of Iraq, and took whatever they could find. It is estimated that almost 50,000 items have gone missing from the museum. Some of these exibits included artifacts dating back to the Mesopotamian Empire. Archeological sites around Iraq have also been stripped clean. Without the proper funding to protect them, it was a "free for all" for theives and treasure seekers alike.

American and British officials came under great scrutiny for not securing the museum and other archeological sites at the time of the invasion. Some claim that troops watched and did nothing about the looting because they were not ordered to take action against the theives until several days after the fall of Bagdahd. There has been little sucess in recovering most of these peices. However, some have been found by American forces during unrelated raids and operations.

One of the greatest cases of cultural theft was in fact planned, funded, and perpetrated by a federal government. During World War II, as the fascist Nazi regime conquered many of surrounding nations, one of their top priorities was to loot anything of value to fund their war effort and wipe out the cultural heritage of their enemies.

Starting in 1940 the Nazi regime formed the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. The original goal of this organization was to find and destroy any Jewish works of literature or "propaganda". Its objective was changed shortly there after to confiscate all works of art and any cultural property of value in German occupied countries. This operation persisted throughout the war.

Many experts agree that approximately twenty percent of the existing cultural property in Europe was looted by the Nazis. Much of these artifacts have been returned to its original owners, however, despite the efforts of many government funded programs with the sole purpose of seaching for these artifacts, there are thousands of works of art that are still missing. In an interview with a local FBI agent, our team discovered that information about stolen artifacts dating back to World War II are still called in by concerned individuals. Many accounts claim that during the final weeks of the war, high ranking German officials ordered that the remaining looted artifacts be hidden so they could be recovered at a later time.

When the Nazi regime was finally defeated in 1946, many countries were owed retribution for damages they suffered at the hands of Germany. Many of the allied forces worked to restore the cultural properties to there rightful owners. However, the Red Army of the Soviet Union stole many of the artifacts that the Germans had stockpiled in retaliation for the destruction and looting of much of their cultural property when the Nazis attempted to invade. Many of these works have turned up recently in Russian museums and storage rooms, locked away for years without the knowledge of Russian officials. The current debate rages on about who is the rightful owner of these artifacts.

During early the 1800’s, when Napoleon’s unstoppable war machine marched across the face of Europe, they took all cultural artifacts in their path. Napoleon’s dream was to have all of the treasures of Europe brought back to the Louvre, in Paris. He suceeded in his quest, bringing thousands of looted goods back to his home country. Some were returned after his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. To this day, many of the looted artifacts still remain in France. Other artifacts were lost only to be found years later. At the time, this level of looting was unheard of. It was only eclipsed when Napoleon’s ideology was copied by Hitler during World War II.